Okay, YouTube has sorted itself out. Click through for videos. Feel free to play “Spot the Technique Error.”
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Month: October 2010
N.B.: I am uploading the videos from last weekend as we speak but getting “unknown errors” from YouTube. Video links coming as soon as I can get them working.
Just finished watching a couple of heats’ worth of video of us from the Carolina Fall Classic last weekend. Good news: we do not look as bad as I feared we might. In particular, I do not look as lumpy and saggy in my JulioJulio dress as one unlucky still photo from Baton Rouge had led me to believe. More good news: neither of our kamikaze-style Viennese Waltz attempts was captured on video.
Now for the bad news. Looking at these videos, I can see why we didn’t get good marks. Our routines are interesting, but our fundamentals aren’t good:
- Footwork is steppy and tentative instead of smooth and strong.
- Posture is bad–Daniel’s forehead is way up by my ear.
- Contact isn’t consistent in hold–in one shot you can clearly see daylight between our hip bones.
- Transitions in & out of hold are sloppy.
- I’m dancing into the floor rather than across it–my steps look stompy.
- We are not aggressive enough and therefore not covering floor as we should.
- Tango is too bouncy.
- Foxtrot is not bouncy enough.
- I was so glad we got the choreography right that I didn’t even notice rise & fall in waltz, which probably means it wasn’t there.
- Relatedly, we are failing to use our knees in any of the dances.
- We are clearly neither dancing our routines smoothly as written nor improvising believably.
Adequate practice–the one thing we haven’t had in the past–is the only cure.
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Comp Diary #7: Photeaux
In between dancing poorly and gnashing our teeth, we did manage to take lots of pictures. Here we go!
This morning we finished out our participation in the Carolina Fall Classic by failing to be recalled in Senior I Silver Rhythm, failing to be recalled in Adult Silver Rhythm, and scratching our two gold events. Daniel was not feeling well, so we decided to cut our losses and start for home early. Given our lack of preparation, we were not surprised at our performance in Smooth. But we have our Rhythm routines solidly under our belts and we think we do them well, so today’s results were discouraging.
While it’s easy enough to say that we’re just going to dance and have fun with no expectations, I in particular have difficulty accepting it when we don’t make that cut from semifinal to final. In my mind, rightly or wrongly, not getting a recall is the judges’ way of saying that we don’t actually belong at the level in which we are dancing. That probably isn’t true, but that’s the way I read it. It’s disappointing for both of us and it detracts from the enjoyment of the event. Plus, every recall we don’t make is at least one heat we don’t get to dance. Obviously, we want to fare better next time. We have decided to do two things: (1) set a practice schedule and do our best to stick to it and (2) talk to Eddie about when we should compete next and have him help us set goals. So although we did not place well (or, in nearly every case, at all), I still feel like we learned something and the trip was worth it.
It should be said, also, that we had fun even though our results were not much fun. The DJ played a surprising number of French songs (we foxtrotted to “Je ne veux pas travailler”) and other good stuff (it turns out that U2’s “Vertigo” is a swing!); we had a very informative chat with Mr. Crowder about possibly hosting a competition in Macon someday; and we competed Viennese waltz for the first time on virtually NO preparation. The first time, we sort of stumbled through it; the second time, I started yelling out steps to Daniel with reckless abandon (“Runaround! Now go! Explode! Collect! Basic!”) and it went a lot better. I would say of VW as I’ve heard said of swing: it’s like a plane crash: any one you can walk away from is a good one.
We also saw lots of people we knew from other comps, watched lots of good dancing (Andrzej Lelewer & Mary Beth Beasley, we want to be you when we grow up), had some nice meals, and got to go to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which commemorates the beginning of the lunch counter sit-in movement at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in downtown Greensboro. That was a cool experience, as is downtown G’boro in general. It was good to get out and flâner a bit rather than spending the whole weekend camped out in the ballroom as is our usual practice.
So: by no means a total loss; lots to work on; and I do have a few photos and some video to share. Give me 10 minutes to work on the laundry and I’ll be back with a photo post.
Danced 4 heats’ worth of American Smooth this morning. Did not make the final in Senior I Silver or Adult Silver; in the Gold events, which were smaller, we came 4th of 4 in Senior I and 6th of 6 in Adult. Quite hard on one’s positive attitude but our friend Philip Jones rather brought it all into perspective when he asked how much we practice. Without putting the answer to that question on the Internet for all to regard with horror, I’ll just say that Philip practices 10 hours a week and we need to get a LOT closer to emulating his example.
Rhythm events tomorrow, then a mad dash home. I have collected a bunch of good pictures but will not post them till after we get back for fear of angering the app. iPhone, you are a fickle mistress.
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Comp Diary #4b: Technical Difficulties
WordPress for iPhone seems to be just as crashy as the App Store reviewers said. Lovingly composed, hilarious, profound post about the agony & ecstasy of competitive dancesport, illustrated with gorgeous and moving photos, is lost forever. Disillusioned, I will be writing only hasty fragments of made-up silliness till further notice.
Warmed up for the weekend by dancing an exhibition tonight for the Georgia Technical College Directors Association, which went very well. We danced a cha-cha, a rumba, and a waltz as well as helping Paula lead the comedy routine (someone remind me later to explain the comedy routine) and Dianne lead the line dances. Everybody seemed to have a good time and so did we. Somehow we did not get any video (read “my partner didn’t pack the camera”) but they had a pro photographer there, so I hope to have photos soon.
It made for a long day but at least my dresses and dance bag are already packed now. Overnight bags are also mostly packed. More tomorrow from the road.
Yesterday’s lesson was canceled, fortunately with a fair amount of notice–I found out shortly after I posted Comp Diary #1. We were disappointed at first but ended up having a much-needed lazy day at home and enjoying the heck out of it. If only a lazy day at home could magically have taught us the bolero! Instead, we headed over to the Wellness Center this afternoon to practice while Paula was teaching her Sunday class. In addition to the upcoming comp we are preparing for an exhibition on Thursday for the CGTC Foundation (same organization that put on the Spring Soirée back in April) at the new Marriott City Center. Swanky!
We ran through our cha-cha, waltz, and rumba routines a few times since those are the dances we’ll be doing Thursday, then broke out the laptop to look at our bolero routine. When Eddie came to give the workshop a few weeks ago we got the routine on video, but we had hardly had a chance to work on it. I had danced it in lessons with Eddie on my own and only gone over a few steps with Daniel. The great thing about dancing with Eddie is that he can lead anyone through anything, especially if he’s counting out loud. The bad thing about dancing with Eddie is that I rely on him too much to lead and don’t learn my own steps. So although I’d done the steps before, I couldn’t say that I remembered them. On the other hand, the great thing about dancing with Daniel is that he picks up steps in a hot second, even from video–I am terrible at learning from video. He got the bolero figured out pretty quickly and we got through enough of it that I think we can manage not to go down in flames next weekend in the Gold events. More practice coming up tomorrow and then Friday if we get to the comp venue early enough.
I also stocked up on eyelashes yesterday and am currently strategizing about when I need to pack. We will probably leave EARLY Friday morning; the CGTC exhibition is in the late evening Thursday; I have ballet & contemporary Wednesday night…Maybe I’ll just get the suitcase out now.
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Comp Diary #1: Preparations
A while back I had this idea to do a Competition Diary, hopefully illustrated with pictures, of our participation in the Carolina Fall Classic next weekend in Greensboro, NC. Then last night I was lying in bed in a sudden panic about whether we’d remember our Smooth routines, and I realized that the diary really needs to start well before the competition starts:
Mid-March 2010: Received first email announcing that last year’s High Point Classic Dancesport Championships has moved from High Point, NC to Greensboro, NC and been renamed accordingly.
June, July, August: More emails reminding us about the competition. Started trying to sort out days off work; decided on Carolina Fall Classic in preference to Atlanta Dance Classic or Stars over Macon (snif!).
September 14: Registered for the competition one whole day before early registration closed. In the USA Dance world, competitors pay one price to dance in everything we’re qualified for. One is allowed to dance up one level and down one age category, so we dance Silver (our level) and Gold (next level up) Smooth and Rhythm, Senior I (our age category, based on the younger partner’s age) and Adult (next age category down). At this competition, Gold Smooth requires us to dance Viennese waltz and Gold Rhythm requires us to dance Bolero, so we will have to cram to learn those two dances.
September 26: Crammed for V-waltz.
October 2: Crammed for Bolero.
October 14: Realized that departure for comp is 8 days away and, per usual procedure, we have not practiced enough. Lay in bed and mentally ran through routines. Seriously questioned whether 90 minutes on Saturday will be enough to fill in any serious gaps in VW and Bolero. Reminded myself that we can always scratch Gold events if we have to. Diverted myself by making Exhaustive Pre-Comp To-Do List (reservations, comp schedule, dress code check, tan, shop, pack, mani/pedi) and Exhaustive Pre-Comp Packing List (street clothes, costumes, non-costumes, makeup, eyelashes, shoes, Blister Block, and remember to bring ballet slippers this time so I’m not wearing polka-dot socks in all the awards pictures).
October 15 (today): Regular registration deadline. Check entry list on O2CM and note with pleasure that almost everything we’re entered in will be a semifinal. Start praying that we make all the finals…
Anticipated highlights of tomorrow’s Comp Diary: Rounds. Sweating. Gatorade. Mint-flavored foot lotion.
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“Dance Your Ph.D.”
Rarely do the 2 sides of my life dovetail so neatly, but I’ve just been reminded by my trusty online friends about Science magazine’s annual “Dance Your Ph.D.” competition. It seems dorky–and it is, in fact, HILARIOUS–but just watch the winning dance in the Chemistry category and see if you don’t feel like you learned something. As a huge believer in both dance and creative pedagogy, I love the idea of using dance (which should, at its best, communicate to and enrich its audience) to illustrate an abstract, complex, or naked-eye-invisible concept to the viewer. Besides, Dance Your Ph.D. shows people that researchers/academics are not all SRS BZNS all the time.
Reading that was a nice antidote to this article which I read this morning. Maybe the popularity of ballroom holds a lesson for ballet people about how to keep their art form alive. To my mind, ballroom is no less physically demanding nor technically complex than ballet, and it comes from similar high-society roots. One could even say that today’s ballroom stars have something of the exotic glamour of last century’s ballerinas. Yet ballroom has succeeded at drawing a proletarian (as it were) audience and at becoming a casual social pursuit and a hobby, while ballet has not. Relatively few teens continue ballet past their high school graduations and still fewer adults take it up as adults. Ballroom, on the other hand, draws numerous adult beginners. It seems to me that keeping an art form alive means attracting as much talent as possible from all available demographic groups. That broader appeal is not incompatible with maintaining a high artistic standard; it merely means that dancers must be allowed to find their own level. A 30-year-old ballet beginner might never dance professionally due to physical limitations, but she might have a good enough understanding of movement to become an amazing choreographer–just as in ballroom, we may never be ISDF world champions (largely because we don’t dance International style or have airfare to Estonia handy) but a Senior I 9-dance title probably isn’t out of reach. At least, we don’t think so. :-)
Ballet and ballroom are both weighted down with tradition. Granted, ballroom began as a social pursuit and became an art/sport while ballet began as a fine art and has only partially made the transition to hobby status. The analogy is, like all analogies, flawed. Yet broadening the appeal of ballet without diluting its essence cannot be as hard as Jennifer Homans makes it seem–even if it probably is harder than I imagine.